Two OMAP 3430 Phones: Nokia N900 and Motorola Droid
by Brian Klug on June 10, 2010 9:29 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- N900
- Maemo
- Motorola Droid
- Droid
- MeeGo
- Android
- Mobile
It’s impressive Motorola was able to get this right. Previously, only the likes of HTC could get sliding mechanisms to feel just right, yet completely solid. And even then, an occasional slider mechanism would just be errant and misbehave. I remember my HTC Mogul surprising me one day when I slid out the keyboard and it suddenly explosively separated - due to wear on the spring loaded system - sending the display assembly rocketing across a room, ribbon cable flailing behind. I don’t feel like the Motorola Droid would put me through a similar ordeal. It’s solid.
What really set my impression the most though was how snug and firm the battery door feels. Compared to other snap-on plastic battery doors, the Moto Droid’s is perfection. It’s strange how much I’m impressed with it, really, but it’s a surprisingly good microcosm for how good the mechanism is. It’s an honest-to-goodness metal cover that slides and locks onto the back. It doesn’t jiggle when the phone vibrates, and consequently doesn’t make obnoxious noises either. I later learned that all of the Motorola Droid's case is metal, with the exception of a plastic strip where the camera is - for the antennas. Incidentally, right here is also where the phone gets warmest during use.
The only major gripe hardware wise is that the volume rocker on the side feels loose. Searching around online, this seems to be a relatively common complaint, although the volume rocker never missed a button press, it was a bit unnerving. Similarly, the camera button required an impressive amount of force to trigger - usually the only way to know was by feeling for the vibration feedback. In Motorola's defense, this is probably to prevent accidental input in your pocket, but it's a hearty amount of pressure to get that camera app open if you're using the button. Just use the application launcher; really, you'll save scaring yourself.
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DaveGirard - Saturday, June 12, 2010 - link
sweet Jesus, that Nokia phone is huge. Does it double as an ice cream sandwich cover?metafor - Sunday, June 13, 2010 - link
Cortex is the CPU designed by ARM. This is available as a hard-macro (layout already done) or soft-macro (just the functional RTL). Some companies license this in either version. For those who license the soft-version, such as TI, nVidia and Broadcom, they can do a customized place-and-route along with clock-tree optimizations and voltage partitioning to try to make the design run faster.However, the micro-architecture is the same.
A few companies have ARM architectural licenses (Apple, Qualcomm, Marvell) and instead of licensing the Cortex line of processors, they design their own. The micro-architecture is developed independent of what ARM did in their Cortex series albeit there will often be similarities.
Scorpion inside Snapdragon was developed in the course of years and while it has many similarities to the A8 from a power-point standpoint, the micro-architecture underneath was designed from the ground up. Everything from the branch predictors, the cache controller, exception handling, execution units and most notably, a partially OoOE scheduler and retirement buffer.
There's also the 128-bit, fully pipelined, partially OoOE SIMD/FP unit.
medi01 - Sunday, June 13, 2010 - link
Well, I find it very strange, that "incidentally" iPhone is never shown in bad light. Could you please update your side to side comparison?Impulses - Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - link
Personally I think there's better things for you guys to do or test with your time... Who cares if a phone's screen colors are more or less accurate, as long as they aren't outright flawed or ugly to look at it shouldn't be a big deal, not like anyone's gonna be doing any pro content editing work on their phones! (I don't even own an AMOLED screen so I'm not particularly biased one way or the other, I own an EVO atm)mojtabaalemi - Saturday, June 19, 2010 - link
I hate the design of nokia mobile phones . in my idea an iphone is far far better !paihuaizhe - Sunday, June 20, 2010 - link
(nike-alliance).(com)=>is a leading worldwide wholesaler company (or u can sayorganization)
arnavvdesai - Saturday, June 26, 2010 - link
I was just wondering if the author had installed AdBlock+ and then run the browser speed numbers or without it being on. If it was not installed which is what I am guessing from the photos, did you notice an improvement in the render times when it was installed. I actually bought the phone recently after seeing it on sale for 380$ and wanted to know the details. Also, I have heard that the current build of the OS allows potrait mode even for the browser(although it has to be activate through some setting) and not just the phone.drwiremore - Sunday, July 4, 2010 - link
Amanda, delighted to have found you. Given the issues in the title, affecting 20~50% of MOTO Droid users, was surprised to see no mention of it. The MOTO boards are alive with disdain and some feel an in you face attitude by Motorola Droid 2 and X announcements. Would you do an iPhone like analysis of voice, antenna and signal issues across Verizons Droids: HTC incredible and MOTO Droid. Your scientific analysis would be welcomed.